Evolution / Genetics / Biology

Pompeii: New find shows man crushed trying to flee eruption

Officials at the Pompeii archaeological site have announced a dramatic new discovery, the skeleton of a man crushed by an enormous stone while trying to flee the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

The legs of a skeleton emerge from the ground beneath a large rock believed to have crushed the victim's bust during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed the ancient town of Pompeii, at Pompeii's archaeological site, near Naples, on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. The skeleton was found during recent excavations and is believed to be of a 35-year-old man with a limp who was hit by a pyroclastic cloud during the eruption [Credit: Ciro Fusco/ANSA via AP]

Pompeii officials on Tuesday released a photograph showing the skeleton protruding from beneath a large block of stone that may have been a door jamb that had been "violently thrown by the volcanic cloud."

Anthropologist Valeria Amoretti works with a brush on a skeleton of a victim of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyed the ancient town of Pompeii, at Pompeii' archaeological site, near Naples, on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. The skeleton was found during recent excavations and is believed to be of a 35-year-old man with a limp who was hit by a pyroclastic cloud during the eruption [Credit: Ciro Fusco/ANSA via AP]

The victim, who was over 30, had his thorax crushed. Archaeologists have not found the victim's head. Officials said the man suffered an infection of the tibia, which may have caused walking difficulties, impeding his escape.

Anthropologist Valeria Amoretti looks at a skeleton of a victim of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79, which destroyedthe ancient town of Pompeii, at Pompeii' archaeological site, near Naples, on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. The skeleton was found during recent excavations and is believed to be of a 35-year-old man with a limp who was hit by a pyroclastic cloud during the eruption [Credit: Ciro Fusco/ANSA via AP]

The archaeological site's general director, Massimo Osanna, called it "an exceptional find," that contributes to a better "picture of the history and civilization of the age."